Chapter Three
I glanced out the window at the kingdom. Everything wouldn’t look like this on my journey and I wasn’t sure if I would even care. I was sure if our mother was here, she would have done something to protect us.
I wasn’t sure if our father could decide which one of us was a dragon or there was possibly more than one dragon in the family. All I knew was the fact that either way, our father was trying to kill the both of us off slowly. I knew if we survived, he would have Terrain and Sadon try to kill us.
As I stared out the window, I caught myself wondering where our mother was. She should have been home two days ago. It seemed as if Lady Elizabeth had been immediately stationed in her place since the time she left.
“Where do you think Mother is?” I asked.
Rowan looked at me. “I have been wondering the same thing and every time I do, I get cold chills running up and down my spine.”
“I hope you aren’t right. I honestly hope she walks through that door and begins to bark orders. It is her orders that can sentence anyone.”
“I know what you mean. I keep trying to wish her here, too.”
“Do you think there is a way that you can join me in my quest to find a bride? At least we would be together and safe.”
Rowan shrugged. “I don’t know how to get out of not going. It seems to me if I don’t kill Maelyss, I will be killed and if I do go there I will be killed. I am in quite the jam.”
“I think I have a plan,” I mumbled.
I may not have wholeheartedly agreed with him joining me, since I had my own secret to guard, but I knew that I had to do something. It was as if we both had secrets that the King seemed to know about, especially since the prophecy seemed to drive him.
I doubted it was all together a coincidence.
“Where is it you are traveling to, anyway? It might be a lot more pleasurable than trying to kill Maelyss,” Rowan asked.
“I am traveling a bit away to a place where my bride will be waiting for me. Who knows, we both might come back with brides. I am just saddened by the fact that Mother isn’t here to see us or bid us farewell.
She has always been somewhat like a good luck omen the way she carries on and blesses us.”
“I am not really sure where she is, but maybe along the way we can search for her.”
“You don’t think Father killed her off do you?” I asked.
Rowan sighed. “I have been thinking the same thing, but I wouldn’t put it past him. I think he has it in his mind that everything is going to come down to his death and he must protect himself from it.”
It was strange to see our father like this, but I knew Rowan was telling the truth. He seemed to be getting worse as the days went by. It was as if lately he didn’t just gradually worsen, but plain out snapped. There was nothing to calm him down.
“You realize if you figure out how to pull this plan off where we venture out together, you will be a genius.”
I started laughing. If only my younger brother was actually correct. We both needed to forget about the castle or why we listened to our father for so long. We needed to listen to our souls and why we both seemed to be attached to dragons. Although Rowan was sent to battle often, he had never killed a dragon.
“I have to admit that this place seems to be feeling a lot different without Mother here to run to for answers. I was starting to get tired of having to answer all these questions she comes up with about prophecies, dragons and us.”
“To be honest, I think sometimes that father is trying to hypnotize us with these problems that he fears, so we can’t see the answers clearly.”
“I have to admit that I always thought you were the one who had the brains in the family. Knowing our father, I wouldn’t put it past him. Sometimes I am shocked beyond words that our father has turned into this.
“Nothing can describe the feeling of fear I have since it seems our own father and brothers would betray us. I think this whole prophecy has spiraled out of control. I honestly borrowed the book because I wasn’t sure if I was the dragon.”
I shook my head. “What if you were the dragon? How do you think that you would hide it? It isn’t like you can go up to our father and say, ‘Oh, by the way, Dad, I am a dragon.’ He would have you killed in seconds.”
“I have been thinking about that. I am not sure. One day, when I woke up and looked at myself in the mirror, I found the same dragon scaling that you have as a tattoo, I began piecing it together.”
“You have what?” I asked.
“Please don’t tell our father. He won’t understand, but one day I woke up and it just appeared. It is in the same shade as your brown scaled outline tattoo as if it was just a birthmark.”
My eyes grew large. We were now both in the same boat.
“You aren’t going to tell Father, are you?”
“Why would I tell Father when we both have the same markings? That would put us both in jeopardy.”
I waited a couple minutes as I looked around and began to put everything in a bag.
“What are you doing?”
“With or without you, I am going to have to travel to get my bride.”
Rowan nodded. “Tomorrow we will leave to get away from all of this. Are you sure you can get Father to drop the campaign?”
I started laughing. “Of course, I will be able to have him drop the campaign. It would look better if two princes married into the same family to expand our connections, wouldn’t it?”
Rowan groaned. “I never thought of it that way, but I guess I should get married.”
A vivid memory of when I was younger came into my mind. My mother and I were traveling to see her family. She had been speaking so fast in the woods that at the time it sounded almost gibberish.
“There are times in which I will have to leave for a little bit. Always know that I will be with you. Make sure to take care of 100Rowan,” my mother said, glancing down at me.
“Where are you going to go, Mother?” I asked.
My mother sighed. “In time you will understand fully without a word ever spoken. Be careful who you speak with and who you trust. It is that trusting bond that will get you in trouble.”
“Are you going far away?”
“I am afraid so, Merek.”
“Are there dragons and knights where you are going?”
My mother laughed. “Of course there will be dragons and knights. Why wouldn’t there be? You will be the king of them all one day.”
I snapped back to reality when Rowan began talking again.
“I am sorry I probably shouldn’t have worried you with any of this,” Rowan began.
I shook my head. “No, I was just thinking of one of the last times that Mother took me to the Servon Isles. She told me to protect you and watch over you. She also told me that one day I would be the king of all the dragons and knights. Do you think she was trying to tell me something back then?”
“I always wondered the same thing, especially with her nightly stories she would tell us. We were the only two that she would talk about dragons with. The other two she would leave with the kingdom, kings and knights that way.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe all these years that our mother had hinted that we weren’t King Athalos’ sons, but we never paid attention.
We grabbed our belongings and I tucked the letter that my mother wrote in my shirt where no one would find it.
***
“My brother and I have been to almost every single kingdom and some of the kingdoms we have gone to more than once,” Sadon boasted as we entered the great room.
“I think that is beyond incredible. You are both quite lucky and I am sure as knights, as well as princes, you are establishing good allies,” Lady Elizabeth stated.
Of course, my other two brothers, Terrain and Sadon, loved to boast about their accomplishments.
The truth was, as I traveled on different quests, I never seemed to have the need to tell people where I had been.
Lady Elizabeth wiped the smile off her face when she saw Rowan and I standing in front of her.
“Where is Father?” I asked.
She looked at me with disgust as if it was a silly question that I had been asking.
“I am sure he is around. I think he said he is speaking with Lord Crewe. What brings you in need of him?”
“I don’t think that is any of your business. You are just a lady and I must point out that your rank is far from that of a prince,” I said as I grabbed my bag and hoisted it over my shoulder.
If words could choke her, I would have said something to do so. The woman was pure evil and I was hoping our mother would be back soon enough to dethrone her once again.
Lord Crewe and my father were both in the study when I walked in with Rowan.
“Where do you two think you are going?” he asked.
“I am going to find a bride. I thought to ask if Rowan would join me. On the way to prove we are fit for the kingdom, I thought we should execute your quest of beheading Maelyss. I am sure that the people of the kingdom would be honored to have two strong princes in their royalty.”
My eyes were set upon what was in Lord Crewe’s hands. It was a box that I had never seen before. The box seemed to be made out of solid marble with an ornate engraved dragon on it.
“You wish not to be accompanied by a full campaign?” my father asked.
I shook my head.
“Very well, you both can leave. When would you like to journey on your quest?”
“We will be leaving before dusk tonight.”
My father nodded as he looked at Lord Crewe. “I think that is fair enough. Two of the princes get married and take down Maelyss. That in itself would prove to the people that my sons are worthy of the kingdoms.”
“I think the princes are right. They do have a very good point. It would be quite honorable if both the eldest and the youngest princes accomplished this.”
I didn’t smile or say anything about the fact that they went with this plan. I had a feeling they would, since they were trying to kill both of us off.
Rowan looked at me as we went out to the stable. “Did you see that box?”
“I remember one like it when I was younger. Mother was showing us. It had some sort of dragon claw pendant for each of us inside. She was explaining to us about a faraway kingdom and how the dragon king would recognize us if we wore those.”
Rowan looked around and looked back at me. “We have to figure out how to get the pendants.”
“How are we going to do that? We are leaving before dusk.”
“I wish I could remember the rest of the story.”
I tried hard to recall it, but like Rowan, the story seemed to be a fading memory.
“I don’t remember much of it except that there was a king who tried hard to kill and outlaw all dragons. He tried hard to make sure they didn’t exist. I thought it was just a story that kept our interest as kids.”
“It did seem to keep our interest, but our childhood has a new meaning to it now. It seems that our mother covered the regular stories with something more meaningful. It seemed even back then she tried to condition us with the truth, although she couldn’t tell us.”
“We need to get those pendants,” Rowan repeated.
“I am trying to think of a way to get them. You know that Lord Crewe hardly leaves the study. I am sure there will be a way we can get rid of the both of them out of the study.”
The pendants seemed to be at our fingertips, yet so far away. It was also something we needed if we were to gain access to the dragon’s lair were Maelyss was to be found.
Neither one of us really wanted to kill Maelyss. I figured this out the more I spoke with my younger brother. It was more that we needed to harness our own shape-shifting abilities before we got ourselves killed.
The conversation that we had overheard between King Athalos and Lord Crewe echoed in our minds. They seemed to want both of us to die so the prophecy could never be fulfilled.
The burning question was the fact we were only given bits and pieces of the prophecy which only made us curious about the rest of it. The other burning question was the fact that Queen Bethany was still missing.
“I have a plan,” I said as I looked at Rowan. “When I address the people and we celebrate the fact we will be accompanying the quest together, you will sneak back in and find the box.”
“What about Terrain and Sadon? They are apt to be lurking around besides Lord Crewe.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
There were several people we would have to try to dodge to get that box. It would be quite hard, but at the same time we had to obtain our princely duties and address the people. It wasn’t like this happened often for me. I did go on quests, but my scholar duties allowed me to stay behind for most of them.
“Rowan, I am sure we will think of something.”
“You have a plan?”
“I might have a plan. Marvin still owes me a favor.”
“Fine, but we need those pendants if we are going to stay alive.”
The memories and dreams of childhood seemed to be intertwining with both of us struggling on this level. Rowan had thrown the book about being a dragon somewhere in his bag and as I packed up our horses I seemed to keep my mind on getting as far away from King Athalos as possible.
There was something uneasy about this day that brought dread and a distinctive feeling of doom.
When we finally disappeared, we found ourselves at the pub. The whole place was empty except Marvin, who was wiping down the whiskey glasses.
“I need a favor.”
“Merek, I hate it when you tell me that you need a favor. It often leads me into a dangerous mission.”
I set down a large bag of gold on the counter. “If you pull it off, I will pay you this, plus my brother has one equal to it that we will pay you.”
“I heard that both of you were venturing out. Two princes trying to conquer the world as they kill innocent creatures,” the man who I had shared a room with said as he suddenly appeared.
I stared at him for a second. I shook my head and let out a sigh. “You have us both wrong. Our father wants us to kill Maelyss. We aren’t into killing dragons.”
“What is your favor?” Marvin asked.
“Our father has a black marble box in his study with an ornate dragon design. Inside are two dragon claw pendants. We need them.”
The man’s eyes seemed to light up. “Is that how you are going to gain access to the dragon realm to kill Maelyss?”
“Dragon Realm? What are you talking about? We aren’t …” I stopped. “This doesn’t pertain to you.”
Marvin opened the bag and looked at the gold coins my brother and I had put in the first bag.
“This is very important to you, isn’t it? Please tell me that it has nothing to do with King Athalos ’ obsession with the prophecy.”
“I am afraid it does, but both of our lives are on the line.”
“What about Maelyss’s life? Do you not think of him?” the stranger asked.
I looked over at him. I was getting beyond frustrated. “I am sorry, good traveler, but I do think of Maelyss. I don’t believe in killing anyone or anything that has not threatened us. I think you have already prejudged my brother and me.”
“Lord Crewe usually does not leave the study, but our other two brothers will be lurking around.” Rowan added.
“I understand what you are asking me. What does Queen Bethany think of two of her sons going on such a quest?”
“Quest? You forgot that I still have to travel out and get a mail order bride. I already sent the paperwork ahead.”
Marvin shook his head as he let out a sigh. “I am not surprised King Athalos has pulled something like this. Where will you be staying?”
“I was hoping that we could bunk here in one of your rooms.”
“You will have to bunk with the traveler.” Marvin motioned to the man I bunked with the other night.
“Fine, we will bunk with him.”
“When I am done with what you ask of me, I will make sure to wake you with it. You must leave before morning or your father’s men will be trying to find you and you both will be in much bigger trouble.”
“I know. We both think he is sending Terrain and Sadon to kill us after we leave. We heard Lord Crewe and our father speaking,” Rowan added.
The man at the other side of the counter shook his head as he looked at us. “It is remarkable that two princes can get themselves in so much trouble. The other part of your quest I think is quite funny. You have gotten yourself a mail order bride? Why don’t you fall in love with a girl the traditional way?”
“I am unsure where you are from good traveler, but our father believes in a prophecy where he thinks that one of our sons will be a dragon and will kill him with a single claw to the throat.”
“That is quite amusing since he loves to kill dragons. I guess karma itself will get King Athalos,” the man said with a smile.
He never looked exactly at us, but he seemed to be quite mysterious, as well as extremely nosey. Rowan took a liking to the traveler instantly, but I wasn’t exactly sure about him.
“You said your mother is missing, where is Queen Bethany?” the traveler asked.
“Our Queen Mother went to visit our grandparents in the Servon Isles. She has been gone for three days now. Lady Elizabeth seems to think that she is suddenly queen and we do not at all like this.”
“Return for the ceremony and farewells and I will be here waiting for you with your package,” Marvin stated.
We both nodded at Marvin saying this.
“I would leave your belongings here. You wouldn’t want your brothers to go through and sabotage anything you have.”
The traveler didn’t say anything as we brought our packs in. Marvin had already placed the gold under the counter.
“Boys, one last thing if we don’t speak before you leave on your quests,” Marvin stated.
“What is that?”
“Be careful out there. I would hate to see the only two princes that could change this whole kingdom die due to the fact that you seem to be on a quest that is a setup.”
“We will be as careful as we can be. If you hear anything about our mother, do you think you can send a message to us?” I asked.
“I will. I am sure your mother is fine. She has many protectors within the woods and the Servon Isles that will guide her to safety.”
I was hoping Marvin was right about our mother. It didn’t seem to please me at all to think she was somewhere out there and hadn’t returned. Three days from when she was supposed to return wasn’t looking very good.
“Do you want me to have a message sent to her telling her that both of you are on this crazy journey?”
I nodded. “That might be a good idea to send a message to her about our crazy quest. By the time both of us return, we both will have brides.”
“I can see your mother asking how you have met your brides. What are you going to tell her?
I looked at Marvin. “I don’t know. I am sure we will think of something. I never expected to have such a crazy deadline and I think we already discussed this. I wanted our mother to be there
and to honor our choices in the next queens. This isn’t our ideal way of choosing our mates.”
“Mates? That is strange wording for you to describe your new beloveds. Perhaps your father is right and you are dragons. After all, dragons do have mates.”
I looked over at him. “Don’t you dare spread that around! I have no problem eliminating a loose lip who will try to cause my brother’s and my death.”
The traveler started laughing. “I don’t fancy anything King Athalos does. I only come to see what the miserable king is up to this time. If you are a dragon, why would I risk the prophecy where it would free everyone from King Athalos and Lord Crewe’s grasps?”
I shook my head. “Take it as a warning then and keep your word.”
“You two best be getting back or your father will send a search party after you,” Marvin pointed out.
I looked up at the clock. He was right. The ceremony would begin soon. Rowan and I had to make it back before then or else our father would search us down.
The traveler didn't asked any more questions, which was good. He also didn’t put in any of his own opinions, either. For a slight amount of time, we got a break from him. I wasn’t sure what to think of the traveler, but Marvin kept telling Rowan and I both that he was trustworthy. He had known him for years and never gave up a secret.
I was hoping Marvin was right because our lives were on the line on this secret. I knew, however, that Marvin would come through with bringing us the pendants. Soon enough, we wouldn’t just have our brides, but also we would visit Maelyss to hone our skills.
Marvin looked at me one last time before I reached the door.
“I hate to say this, Prince Merek, but you might want to put your riding gloves on,” said as he motioned to my left hand.
I looked down at the scales that seemed to be appearing.
Rowan looked down at his arm as he was itching. Glittery transparent scales seemed to be falling out of his sleeve.
“We are dragons,” I whispered.
“This isn’t going to be good! What if we turn into a full dragon at the ceremony?” Rowan asked.
The traveler seemed amused by this. “I guess karma did seem to bite King Athalos on the behind. It does tickle my fancy seeing the oldest and youngest princes aren’t his at all.”
I glared at him and then stared back at my brother. “I don’t know. We have to think of some reason why we can’t really face the kingdom in a long drawn-out ceremony.”
“We could try to tell ourselves we are humans. Do you think that would work?” Rowan asked.
I let out a groan. When I did, wisps of smoke exited from my nose and mouth.
“This isn’t going to end good at all,” Rowan said as wisps of smoke were beginning to exit his mouth and nose as well.
Although his eyes were dark and mine were whitish-blue, we both seemed to having glowing eyes.
“I thought you said we didn’t show signs of being a dragon according to the book you read.”
“I lied. I didn’t want anyone to know that we were dragons,” Rowan admitted.
“You could have shared this with me!” I said, unimpressed.
“How are we going to go back to the castle when we both will be killed?”
“Worse than that, who is going to marry a dragon?”
“You know what they say, boys? Dragons make the best lovers around! Ask anyone who has been with a dragon. It looks like your mother has been at least twice,” the traveler pointed out.
“Stay out of it!” Rowan and I said at the same time.
“We can’t return looking like this, so how are we going to go back there?” Rowan asked.
“I am thinking!”
“Think harder! My back itches and I think I am growing wings.”
“Boys! I hate to break this up, but if you are going to turn into dragons before my eyes, you are going to have to hide somewhere. The lunch crowd will be coming soon enough and this place will be filled with locals,” Marvin pointed out.
I looked horrified as the back of Rowan’s shirt began to lift.
“We are both shape-shifting into dragons. Marvin is right. We have to figure out something fast or go into hiding. Since we don’t know how to correct it, we will have to send a message that we left early. Perhaps our father will believe it and leave us alone, since there is no way we can be seen like this. We will beheaded immediately.”
“This is incredibly painful. I feel as if I am shedding my skin as a human and outgrowing it,” Rowan said as he began cringing. His face began to reform and there was a long snout and scaled face. “This is not happening!” he mumbled.
Marvin looked at me. “Go upstairs and I am sure, since you have paid me quite well, I will think of something to cover for the both
of you. Just keep out of sight.”
“How do we know if we are going to grow into a huge dragon like Maelyss?”
The traveler shook his head. “You are just beginning to shape-shift. I doubt you will become that big,” he said as he sighed.
“Run to the room. I see your father’s men coming down the hill.”
Rowan and I stayed in the attic where Marvin would often hide me when I stayed at the inn.
Wisps of smoke seemed to continue to escape out of our nostrils. Our hands were no longer in the shape of humans, but we were full-fledged dragons trying to stay quiet in our room. This had never happened before and with King Athalos trying to prove the prophecy was real, this wasn’t helping.
I wasn’t sure what Marvin had in mind to cover for us, but I was hoping it worked. Staying incredibly silent in the attic only made me feel as if we were prisoners. Why didn’t our mother tell us that we were shape-shifters before this?
*
Somewhere in the time that we were in the attic, both Rowan and I had fallen asleep. It didn’t surprise me when we woke up that the traveler was nowhere to be found, but we were no longer in the town either. We were in “a town” but not the town that was part of the kingdom. I was sure Marvin had worked his magic.
A note was pinned to us as we seemed to once again be humans.
“I took the honors to help you out. You are at the inn in the village where the mail order bride agency is. I got you to half the journey. As promised, in your bag is your box with the pendants.”
“At least Marvin got us this far. We are at least out of the kingdom in which we were in danger of getting killed,” Rowan said looking down at the note that was pinned to him as well.
“He might have got us out of there, but we are still going to have to face King Athalos as well. You seem to forget that we will have to return sometime,” I pointed out.
“For now, we are humans and we can at least pick out brides.”
Going downstairs seemed to be different than the inn that Marvin owned and ran. Exotic women seemed to accompany the place.
“I see that you two are finally awake. How can I help you?” asked a woman in a long tight fitting dress that was tied under her bosom.
“We are looking for this address,” I said as I reached into my pocket and gave her the card.
“Oh, you must be Merek. We have your mail-order bride waiting. We have trained her to be quite obedient and she loves to please people.”
“Trained her? What is this place?” Rowan asked as the woman disappeared and came back with a young woman in her early twenties. Her blond hair seemed to be almost snow white. Her eyes were jade green. She seemed to be the woman of my dreams.
“I understand you are now my husband,” she said as she bowed at me with a thick accent.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“Ryia,” she whispered.
“Princess Ryia, you are to be Queen when we return to the kingdom.”
“I understand this perfectly.”
“Good, then we should start to leave.”
“How do I sign up for one of these girls? That red head makes my blood boil!” my brother said as smoke began to come out of his nose. His eyes seemed to flash with a sudden new desire within him that had to be met.
“We don’t often get requests from dragons. You two will be the first in a very long time. I thought you would be humans since you come from the kingdom that hates dragons.”
Ryia seemed to shy away as she looked into my eyes and then looked away.
“Yes, well, things don’t always seem to be the way they appear,” I replied.
“Ryia, go gather your belongings. You have a long journey ahead of you.”
She nodded without a word and disappeared. When she returned, she had a sack that was like our traveling sack.
The red headed girl seemed to take a liking to my brother, but I was paying more attention to Ryia as she was now my bride.
Every time her eyes caught mine, I felt as if my soul was waking up. I had never felt this strange feeling before. I also knew that there was a lot to learn for the both of us and I wasn’t sure where it would go from there.
At the moment, it was an agreement that she was my bride. I didn’t know her and it seemed foreign to show affection so suddenly to a stranger.
As we exited the streets, I saw my horse in the stable with Rowan’s horse. I was sure Marvin seemed to work his magic to get us here, since it would have been a two-week trip, otherwise. Our packs were filled with everything including food that we needed to get to the dragon realm.
When the voyage began, I sensed that something was going terribly wrong with my new bride.
“How long is it going to take to get to the castle?” she asked aggravated.
“It is a long trip. Why do you ask?”
“I no longer like traveling. We seemed to be riding on a horse through who knows where!”
“Then I shouldn’t tell you that we will be making camp in the middle of the forest?”
I could feel my arms itch once again, and I was trying hard not to scratch at them. I didn’t want to turn into a dragon riding my horse while holding my new bride.
“You are joking! I thought I would be staying in a real house. Why is it that people think they can buy brides and treat them like this?”
I wasn’t sure where they found Ryia, but her attitude seemed to be much different than the one that was on the paper I picked out.
“I have been dreading this travel as well, Ryia.”
She groaned. “How could you say that? You aren’t the one that is suddenly married to a dragon.”
“It could be worse.”
“I would like to know how it could possibly be worse than this! There is no way anything can be worse than being married to a dragon.”
I didn’t dare tell her the rest of the story of how our father was most likely hunting us. I thought I would save that tidbit until later, when she seemed to warm up to me.
“When I joined the agency as a mail order bride, I thought I would be married to an aristocrat or a prince. I never imagined that I would be married to a dragon at all.”
“You act like this is the worst possible thing you have ever done in your life! Why did you even become a mail order bride?”
“I didn’t become a mail order bride by choice. I needed the money for my family. Often the agency comes through and takes the good looking girls and sells them off to poor pitiful men like you, who can’t find a traditional bride.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“You are my husband, I know that!”
“I am Prince Merek. I am the son to King Athalos.”
Ryia rolled her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at me.
“Please, tell me another one. King Athalos hates dragons and you can’t be in any way Prince Merek. The arrogant bastard would be in my face already ordering me to do things.”
“Do you wish for me to order you around?”
She looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “Do you think I really would listen to you? Women shouldn’t be ordered by their husband!”
“I thought your profile stated you were very obedient and always willing to please someone.”
“That was before I ended up married to a dragon!”
“You haven’t even given me a chance. You just seem to dread the idea before you even get to know me,” I mumbled as I looked at her.
“I am sure you would think the same thing as well, if you just happened to get stuck with marrying a dragon.”
I sighed. “What is it going to take for you to at least give me a fair chance?”
“Ha! That is up to you! Oh, I guess for you not to eat me! This is the worse luck I have ever had in my life. I get stuck with a dragon as a husband.”
“They do say dragons make the best lovers,” I tried to point out.
She slapped me. “Save it scale boy! No way are we having sex.”
I glanced back at my brother who had to turn around on his horse and start laughing.
“You know, it is up to you if you want to go on this venture. I can always leave you somewhere and you can find your way back.”
“Are you serious? You are willing to leave me out in the middle of nowhere? You cannot be serious! First I am married to a
dragon and a beast for a husband, and now you are willing to abandon me in the middle of nowhere?”
“I think you are making it obvious that you don’t want to be here. We can always turn around and take you back to the agency. It is up to you.”
Neither of these options seemed to please her. She seemed terribly angered by the fact Rowan and I were dragons. In her eyes, we had tricked her. I hated to see what would happen if we mentioned our lives were on the line and we were going to be hunted soon enough.
“Can you at least pretend to be a wife who would like to accompany me on this journey?”
“Why would I want to do something like that?” Ryia asked.
I tried hard not to groan, since wisps of smoke kept escaping from my nostrils each time I got mad.
It seemed as if this mail order bride wasn’t working out at all for me.
“It would make the trip a bit more pleasurable if we could get along.”
“How much further do we have until we make camp?” Ryia asked annoyed.
“We will make camp once the sun starts setting.”
Ryia seemed to show her displeasure with this idea. “My legs are getting tired and my body aches from riding this horse all day. Are we in a rush that I don’t know about?”
“Yes, we are in a bit of a rush. We will keep traveling until the sun sets.”
That was how my trip began as I seemed to be partnered with a
mail order bride who could not stand the looks of me.
By the time we made camp nothing seemed to have changed between the two of us. She tried hard to stay away from me and I was trying to debate in my head if I should come up with an excuse why I didn’t bring back my bride, and abandon her here in the middle of nowhere.
She would have been kicking and screaming the whole way to the dragon realm.
I had dreaded marriage completely since everyone had warned me about the day I would meet someone a lot like Ryia and she would make me regret even thinking about getting married.
I glanced over at her. She had been the reason why I dreaded marriage and she was a fine example of it. Now she was my wife and I wasn’t sure what to do with her.
She seemed as if she was regretting the whole thing as well, since she kept telling me about her mistake. She didn’t try to start a conversation with me unless she wanted to point out she hated this whole situation.
Unlike my bride, Rowan was having better luck and I didn’t seem to see him much that night as I sat next to the fire. I was alone and thinking. All I wanted to do was get to the dragon realm fast so we could harness our inner dragon before anyone else noticed what we were.
Ryia began to once again complain.
I looked up at her. “If you are in that much pain being here why don’t you just leave and run away? Neither one of us will have to see each other again. I didn’t mean to destroy your life by marrying you. I was actually hoping for a wife who would someday be my equal.”
“Good, I just might take your idea and run as far as I can away from you. Don’t send search parties out to look for me either.”
It didn’t surprise me that she had said this, since she refused to look at me from the other side of the fire. It was as if I was a hideous beast and her eyes would burn if she looked at me.
I motioned to her pack that she had brought which seemed to consist of everything she had ever owned, or the royal reserve, since it was so heavy.
“Sun will set in two hours. I hope you know how to make your own camp.”
She glared at me. “See what type of beast you are! I am in the middle of nowhere and you are going to hand me my pack and tell me to leave? I don’t even have a horse!”
“You are not taking my horse! You can find your own horse.”
“What would you do if I did just got up and left?” she asked.
I sighed. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have a headache, at least. I knew it was harsh to even think it, but her mouth was running nonstop to express her displeasure.
“I would check in the morning to make sure that you were set and ride away as if I never met you. It is obvious that you can never love me and you will never be a good mate for me.”
“Mate? I can never be a mate to a dragon.”
“I am sorry that I am not who you wanted to marry, but in the same breath, you have become someone I regret marrying as well. I don’t understand why we can’t at least try to make this work. It isn’t like either one of us really wanted to be married to one another, but we really have no choice.
“To tell you the truth, I chose you because back at the agency, I thought you were the most amazing woman I had ever seen. You were polite and gentle. I am very glad you proved all that wrong to me and that your true colors are showing. It shouldn’t matter if I turn into a dragon. I didn’t ask to become a dragon, but what would you know!
“All you have done is complain about why you wish that I would just drop dead. Soon enough you will get your wish once we enter the kingdom. At least as acting queen, you can ruin my kingdom and tell the people what kind of monster I was that you married.”
Ryia’s eyes locked with mine. The night was beginning to set in as the sky darkened. For the first time since we had been together, she was silent. I liked this silence since my brain could actually relax enough to plan the next step of our journey.
She stared at me without a word coming out of her mouth as if she was shocked by the words I seemed to have said to her.
I looked at the dirt next to the fire. My brother and I were the beginning of a prophecy and I knew King Athalos would assign his men to kill us. There was no direct route we would be able to use without being ambushed. I was positive of that.
“What a joke that you are saying! Why would you make me queen if you were going to be killed?
“Have you not been listening to a single word I said, Ryia? I am Prince Merek. My brother is Prince Rowan. We are the dragon shape-shifters in the prophecy about King Athalos. It is one of our sons who will kill him.
“Our father is really Maelyss, the King of dragons. When King Athalos finds out we are dragons, we are to be murdered on the spot. You, my young bride, will be queen and take over the kingdom.”
At first, she glanced at me with hate in her eyes.
“If there was another way, I would surely figure it out. I know you hate my guts and I would be quite content if you wished to leave. I would understand since neither of us seemed to be happy about the marriage between us.
“I was expecting queen material, but what would I know? This was after all, my first marriage and I was talked into this setup by my good friend, Marvin. He was the one who told me to give a mail order bride a chance. I should have listened to my gut and dealt with the consequences.”
It was as if something turned itself for a split second inside Ryia, because she showed interest.
“I know none of this interests you. If you can hold on, you will have enough money and a castle to live in. I promise you these things. I just need to figure out how to get you back there safely.”
“You are telling me that you really are the sons of King Athalos? Why are you here with mail order brides? You can marry whoever you want.”
“You said it yourself, Ryia, who in their right mind would want to marry dragons! I guess the truth is that if anyone found out we were dragons, we would die and that is what we are running from now.
“Even our other two brothers would have no problem killing us. I know these words aren’t what you want to hear, but this is my only explanation.
“I used to value my life, but now I have to admit to myself there is a chance that both Rowan and I will not return from this journey. We chose brides to run our kingdoms in case we are killed.”
“I guess we both have secrets that we don’t want people to find out,” Ryia said as she grabbed her sack and pulled out a sword and a shield.
“Amazing isn’t it? I was once as a known warrior until my father decided to allow me to be captured in our village. His last words to me were ‘you must learn how to be a woman’. His words echoed through me for a very long time. I tried hard to be a good wife in training. Then I just didn’t care.
“I wanted to be who I was before I was captured. When you took me away, I remembered how free I was. I used to lead battles and go on my own quests. I wasn’t stuck as a prisoner.”